Marvel Announces New $1 Reprint Throwback Line

In what is obviously meant to be a compliment/counter to DC's "After Watchmen" program of last year, Marvel announced their "World's Greatest Comics" line on their corporate site back in December here and have made a second recent small statement here.


DC's "After Watchmen... What's Next?" program can be read about at AfterWatchmen.com, a sub-site of DC's website [which appears to have been taken down - DEAD LINK - 9/15/2o12]. It was just narrowly an even better program than this new initiative from Marvel, because it also included a free catalog that explained why they felt X, Y, and Z project they did was similar to "Watchmen" and why you should go buy them all.

This seems like an excellent idea to me. Comics, as a medium, is great. Individual comic-books are great. Superheroes are great. Trade-paperbacks are great. Marvel is great. DC is great. These programs essentially promote all of these things at once.

Already out is "Invincible Iron Man" v3 #1 reprint for FREE no less!
"Captain America" v5 #1
"Thor" v3 #1
"The Wonderful Wizard of OZ" #1
and
"The Punisher MAX" #1
are to follow over the course of March for a mere $1 each.

Putting out the first issues of the modern interpretations of the BIG THREE (Thor, Captain America, Iron Man) just before they are presumably going to be re-united by the currently ongoing "Siege" crossover 'event' storyline in cheap, cheap reprints is a stroke of genius! No question about it.

"Marvel's Greatest Comics" was the title of a reprint anthology series Marvel produced from 1968 to 1981, which was a re-titling of "Marvel Collectors' Item Classics" started in 1965. The bombastically promotional nature of the title is Stan Lee all the way. So there's a throw-back element here as well: the idea of presenting old comics material again at a lower price has been around for a LONG time.

"Marvel Tales Annual" #1 was Marvel's first and was printed back in 1964! It reprinted the origin stories of each of Marvel's biggest hit characters from the previous three years. In a way, this is EXACTLY what the new "Marvel's Greatest Comics" line is doing. I have fond memories of some reprint titles, as they were the only way to cheaply catch-up on old Spider-Man stories in those days before the internet!

Reprints may not be worth as much as the original, they may entirely miss the cache of that 'THIS WAS THE OBJECT, THIS WAS THE TIME' feeling, but reprints are a good thing.

In fact, the first comic-books were reprints. "How the fuck is that possible?" you ask. "How could there be a reprint if there were no comics to reprint!" you think, smug in your excellently logical thought process.

Well Mr. Smug, the first comic-books and comics trade-paperbacks were reprints of comic-strips. "The Funnies" #1 from January 1929 was essentially a newspaper comic-strip section without the newspaper. "Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics", published in 1933, was the first comic-book one-shot. "Famous Funnies" #1 kicked-off the first ongoing comic-book series way back in 1934.

They are all firsts, but they are also made-up mostly or entirely of comic-strips reprinted one on-top of another page after page, reformatted to the new form of the comic-BOOK.

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To learn yourself more about this stuff:

Arthur's Marvel Comics Reprints Website is a catalog of Marvel reprint titles.
Marvel Masterworks.com is a very detail-oriented examination of the Marvel Masterworks hardcover and trade-paperback reprint line.
The Collected Comics Library is a strange but thorough site which reports on collected reprint editions.
and
TheComicBooks.com has a detailed history of the invention of the comic-book format in the section titled "Newsstand Period 1922-1955".


UPDATE: 3/12/2oo9
Not only are these many first issues being made available in super-cheap reprints, but the second issues will be available for free as a part of Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited on their website.

Brilliant.

Online Videos That Profile Local Comic Shops!

I thought I was making some slow plodding headway in going to different comic-book stores in the area and mentioning them on the blog, giving those of our readers in the New York City area a vision of what they were missing by not going out and discovering their local comic shops.

But check out the recently started "Comics Round the Corner" video series, available from NEW-GEN (APNG ENTERPRISES) on vimeo.com!!

These guys have done a damn good job of interviewing the workers (and sometimes even the customers) of quality New York City metro-area comic-book retailers.

+ This past month of February they presented Jim Hanley's Universe Manhattan, right in the heart of NYC.

At the end of 2oo9, they did three:

+ Fortress of Solitude in Newark, NJ in late December.
+ In mid-December: Clockwork Comics in Union, NJ.
+ The first one appeared in early December and featured Wild Pig Comics II Kenilworth, NJ.

Hopefully more installments on more stores are yet to come.

I say you should watch these if you're even a bit curious as the host, Andrew McDonald, is an excited and entertaining guy and the question: "Where can I learn about/find comic-books without feeling uncomfortable?" has never been better answered to my eye.

In fact, some of NEW-GEN's other video and audio podcasts on comics are awesome as well.

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It seems that these guys were not the only people to think of this. Heading to YouTube.com and searching for "comic shops" brings up mostly junk, but a few interesting results, including this video profiling Cosmic Comics in Manhattan and this one on Forbidden Planet, also in Manhattan.

Best results would probably come from utilizing Diamond Distributor's ComicShopLocator.com, which allows you to search for all direct market shops in the US that receive new comics from Diamond by punching in a zip code. THEN, go and put the names that come up into YouTube's search field one by one, and see what happens.

Support your local comic-book stores!

Here's What I Think

You know how yesterday I said that I couldn't believe that Spider-Man would be on two teams of Avengers at once? Well, with today's announcement that Wolverine will ALSO be on the New Avengers, I'm pretty sure that the cover to Avengers #1 is misleading. Take into account that neither Spidey nor Logan appeared in the teasers for Avengers and also that New Avengers #1 doesn't come out until June and, well, we have a recipe for misdirection.

Sorry, Jon...

... but it looks like you're going to have to buy even one more book, come June:

Is the Webhead really going to serve on two teams of Avengers at once? I suppose it's possible that there is a little bit of a bait and switch going on with the cover to the new Avengers title (isn't that confusing?) and that Spidey'll only be in the first issue or so, but that seems like it might be a little much.

Welcome Back, Barry!

So, like many people, I have been a little uneasy with Barry Allen's resurrection. Barry's death was important. He was a hero. This is the man who even Superman looks to as an example for what a hero is. Also, his death lasted over 20 years! Big deal.

However, in Blackest Night I just full-heartedly adore him. He is such an interesting character, and he is extremely inspiring. In Blackest Night #4 he says to The Atom and Mera (Aquaman's widow): "We need to run in, take charge and kick ass like we were born to. And Ray? Mera? We were born to."

That's on my list of "What it Means to Be a Hero" quotes.

Now, DC's Blog The Source has solicited a new Flash ongoing, staring Barry Allen, written by Geoff Johns. Oh but it gets better, Johns is joined by the fantastic Francis Manapul! If you were reading Adventure Comics then you know just how amazing this combination can be. Let's take a look shall we?

Wow. Just wow. All I can say is that I can't wait for April 14th to come around! I know that I'll be picking up Flash #1 that day!